Best Chicago theater performances of 2012

CaptionManny Buckley in 'Hit the Wall,' a production by The Inconvenience at the Steppenwolf Garage Theatre

In Ike Holter's new drama "Hit the Wall," Buckley played an initially apolitical drag queen whose consciousness is raised one night at New York's Stonewall Inn, when gay Americans fought back against routine harassment. This was a stunning piece of acting from a mostly unknown young performer:...

In Ike Holter's new drama "Hit the Wall," Buckley played an initially apolitical drag queen whose consciousness is raised one night at New York's Stonewall Inn, when gay Americans fought back against routine harassment. This was a stunning piece of acting from a mostly unknown young performer:...

CaptionCarmen Cusack in 'Sunday in the Park With George,' at Chicago Shakespeare Theater

When Cusack, surely the best Dot/Marie that this prismatic Stephen Sondheim musical has ever seen, started to sing "Children and Art" in Gary Griffin's masterful production of "Sunday in the Park With George," truths and emotions seemed to pour from the stage in great waves. This wasn't flashy...

When Cusack, surely the best Dot/Marie that this prismatic Stephen Sondheim musical has ever seen, started to sing "Children and Art" in Gary Griffin's masterful production of "Sunday in the Park With George," truths and emotions seemed to pour from the stage in great waves. This wasn't flashy...

Fox is unusual among Chicago actors in that he seems to carry a certain patrician dignity and a sense of sadness wheresoever he goes. Fox's work as King Midas, he who must learn that children have more worth than gold, was a moving portrait of a man who was certain he knew all there is to know,...

Fox is unusual among Chicago actors in that he seems to carry a certain patrician dignity and a sense of sadness wheresoever he goes. Fox's work as King Midas, he who must learn that children have more worth than gold, was a moving portrait of a man who was certain he knew all there is to know,...

Fry, long one of the Chicago theater's leading ladies, is hardly an unknown quantity. But her work in the two-character drama "The Letters" is striking by how much it reveals about this gifted actress. Her character, a Soviet-era apparatchik hauled in to the office of her dangerous superior for...

Fry, long one of the Chicago theater's leading ladies, is hardly an unknown quantity. But her work in the two-character drama "The Letters" is striking by how much it reveals about this gifted actress. Her character, a Soviet-era apparatchik hauled in to the office of her dangerous superior for...

Most Don Quixotes come with a good helping of bluster -- think Robert Goulet in his prime. But the veteran, silver-haired Chicago actor Harms took a very different approach to this famous character, offering a window into his feelings of mortality. Harms had an extraordinary year: He was...

Most Don Quixotes come with a good helping of bluster -- think Robert Goulet in his prime. But the veteran, silver-haired Chicago actor Harms took a very different approach to this famous character, offering a window into his feelings of mortality. Harms had an extraordinary year: He was...

Chicago stages were filled with memorable performances in 2012, many the work of veteran local actors who have only improved with age. So in our annual tribute to the city's incomparably talented stock of actors of all stripes, here's our list of the 10 best performances of the year. It appears...